Switzerland, June 19 - 28, 2001

Stage 5 - June 23: Widnau/Heerbrugg
- Col du Gothard, 220.6 km

Double success for Fassa
Bortolo

As if to emphasise its recent statement that Fassa Bortolo would remain
active and competitive in international cycling, the team today pulled
off an impressive and morale boosting double success in the Tour de
Suisse. The extremely challenging 220 km fifth stage from Widnau/Heerbrugg
to the St Gotthard pass was won by ageless Russian, Dimitri Konyshev
after spending 195 kilometres in front of the race. His teammate Wladimir
Belli took over the lead by a single second from Lampre's Gilberto Simoni,
with the latter finishing second in the stage.

Not all the major teams were represented, but the group rode quite
hard to build up a large lead of 12'32 by kilometre 93. The average
speed was above the fastest schedule by this point, and it remained
high for the rest of the stage. Gradually, the chase gained some momentum
as Horillo and Sassone were dropped and quickly went back to the peloton
on the tough slopes of the Oberalp Pass.

Although Nicolas Jalabert was the virtual leader on the road, Dimitri
Konyshev was certainly the strongest as he won the Oberalp Pass climb,
then accelerated away from the others on the first ascent of St Gotthard
(the easy side). By this stage, he had a 6'30 lead on the rapidly diminishing
peloton with 28 kilometres to race, with Jalabert, Aldag, Contrini,
and Buxhofer dotted along the road behind him.

Konyshev held his lead on the descent, and with 13 kilometres to go
the final pursuit match began. In spite of being in front of the race
for most of the day, Konyshev's rhythm was solid although he gradually
lost time to the chasers. The battle behind for the leader's jersey
was intense, as Swiss favourites Oscar Camenzind (Lampre), Laurent Dufaux
(Saeco) and Alex Zülle (Team Coast) fell off the back of the leaders
on the steeper sections (17%) of the cobbled pass.

With 5 kilometres to go, Konyshev had 5 minutes and was looking a
lot more likely to hold on. However the attacks behind began in earnest
as Lampre's Juan Manuel Garate accelerated with CSC's Marcellino Garcia
Alonso on his wheel. The two held a lead for a short time, catching
the remnants of the earlier break, before they in turn were caught by
Lance Armstrong (USPS), Gilberto Simoni (Lampre), Wladimir Belli (Fassa
Bortolo), and Manuel Beltran (Mapei), with the sole Swiss hope Beat
Zberg (Rabobank) trailing a few hundred metres off the back.

Armstrong was the weakest of this final group, and he succumbed to
Simoni, Garate and Belli's attacks with 3 km to go. The race was now
on for the yellow leader's jersey, as Konyshev still had plenty of time
in hand to win the stage, but not enough to take the lead. Only 3 seconds
separated Belli (12th) and Simoni (13th) on GC, which was reduced to
just one second after Simoni took 6 bonus seconds for finishing second
in the stage, while Belli took 4 for third.

This meant that Belli became the new overall leader in the Tour de
Suisse, but Simoni is breathing down his neck with 5 stages to come.
Although today was the toughest stage, the battle is likely to remain
intense for bonus seconds in the remaining stages, while Tuesday's mountain
time trial will of course be critical.

The day belonged to 35 year old Konyshev, who had spent 195 of the
220 kilometres in the lead. His 1'57 finishing advantage was better
than expected but he certainly had enough in his legs to hold a good
tempo on the final climb, which was brutal in both its steepness and
surface.

Tomorrow's 174 km Mendrisio - Mendrisio stage is expected to suit
the sprinters once more, with a couple of ascents of Monte Ceneri at
40 and 70 kilometres, before three finishing circuits in Mendrisio.